


Love At the End of Times

by i_amthecosmos



Series: Adapted verse [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Discrimination, Fantasy Universe, M/M, Mutual Masturbation, Post-Apocalypse, Special Powers, hunger, winged Zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-10 21:57:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7862656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_amthecosmos/pseuds/i_amthecosmos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Event, Niall and Zayn find each other. The world isn't the same, and neither are they.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love At the End of Times

**Author's Note:**

> This is influenced by a few different things (the movie At World's End, for one), but I hope I'm not ripping anyone off. I tried to make it different! For the h/c bingo, square for hungar/starvation. For magdalyna, who loves Ziall.

Niall sometimes forgot that the old world was gone. Sometimes he caught a glimpse of it in old billboards or the broken remains of a Britney Spears cd in the rubble. Sometimes someone else recognized him, and their face would brighten for a second. Then the new reality would hit again.

Because the new world was a motherfucker, Niall decided. He looked over the rubble of crumbling buildings and the decaying urban landscape of people trying to survive, while the Adapted moved about with ease. As it happened, he was best friends with one of the Adapted. 

Since the Event-Niall thought of it that way, it had different names-Zayn wasn’t just one of the most talented people Niall had ever known, he had become kind of a demigod. Zayn didn’t need paints to make art anymore, he could wish it into existence. He didn’t need a backing band to sing, his voice filled it all in perfectly. And, well, he could fly.

Zayn kept the wings tightly folded when it was just him and Niall walking down the street. He never complained about walking with Niall. Niall was sure that Zayn was trying to protect him. Now that most technology had stopped working and the magical had completely taken over the mundane, maybe he did need a bodyguard.

“Hey, you okay?” Zayn was smoking. It wasn’t easy to get tobacco, but weed grew fucking everywhere, and since he Adapted, Zayn’s tolerance level went through the bloody roof. Niall had never seen anything like it. “We should eat,” Zayn said. Well, that was one thing that hadn’t changed. 

“Where do we go?” There were a lot of soup kitchens, places like that, and of course the pubs managed to stay in business. Brewing beer wasn’t hard to do no matter what the technology. Zayn pointed down the street, and Niall decided not to argue with him. 

The place was about a block down, and it actually served what smelled like good food. Niall took a deep breath and his stomach growled. They got closer, and Niall saw the sign. **Adapted Only**.

That was another thing. Since the rise of the Adapted, more than some of them had been acting like a new upper class, and had no shame about pulling this sort of bollocks. Zayn scowled, and started to enter the outside dining area. “Come on.” He pulled Niall with him.

Immediately an Adapted bodyguard showed up. He was about 300 pounds, and was a nice rust color, with clear blue eyes. In the old world he would have been an amazing wrestler. He glared down at Niall. “Can’t bring him in.” 

“He’s with me.” Zayn glared at him, and his wings started to unfold, probably unconsciously. The bodyguard seemed to swell, and Niall had had enough.

“Can I get something to go then, you bastards?” That got the bodyguard to look at him like he was an annoying insect. Zayn moved in front of Niall before the rust-colored colossus could stomp on him.

“Is he your servant?” Mr. Rust Giant said to Zayn, like Niall didn’t exist at all.

“He’s my friend,” Zayn shot back. “He was my friend before, and he is now. We just want to eat, we don’t want any trouble.” Zayn’s wings were entirely unfolded now, and Niall had trouble seeing around them. 

The Rust Giant glared down. “We will get you some soup. To-go, as your person said.” The bodyguard left and came back with two bread bowls full of delicious smelling soup. Zayn gave him some of his weed and a gold coin and then they found a corner to sit on to eat. Niall watched as an Adapted woman with glittery peacock feather-like skin was driven by a bicycle rickshaw. 

“Sorry about that,” Zayn said. “I ate there when you were asleep a few days ago.”

 

Sure. Zayn had just not seen the sign. “Don’t worry about it,” Niall said, finishing his soup and then tearing apart the bread bowl. You didn’t need modern technology to make good bread either. The soup helped, but he was still a bit hungry. Fuck, but he missed chocolate candy sometimes.

“I just…it’s so weird for me. I got so much shit from people for my race, my religion, and now not only does it not matter, but everyone thinks I’m _better_ because of something I can’t control. I can’t get used to it.” Zayn nibbled more of his bread.

“Yeah, well. I’m Irish.” Niall didn’t think that made a difference to people anymore, but the point stood. He was a second-class citizen to some then, and he was a second-class citizen to more now. Zayn touched his shoulder, and Niall turned to him.

“It’s not important. We can rise above it. I’m your friend, okay?” 

“We weren’t friends for a while.” Niall was talking about before the Event, when Zayn went on to his own solo career and people saying that he had been held back by the group. Niall had said that bygones were bygones, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t remember. 

“I missed you back then. I just didn’t think you wanted to hear from me.” Zayn ripped up the rest of his bowl and devoured it, then lit up his joint again. “I told you I was sorry,” he said as he blew out the smoke. “Do you want some?” 

“Naw, It’ll just make me hungry again,” Niall said. “I’m really glad you tracked me down after…whatever happened.” 

“I looked for all of them,” Zayn said, suddenly serious. “As soon as I got control of my wings I flew all over England, looking for them. I was looking for my family too, but the lads as well. You were the only one I found. I don’t know what happened to the others.” 

“I don’t either.” Before Niall had really figured out what was going on, he kept trying to get his phone to work. It never did again. He even walked to Louis’s home, and found out it had been taken over by one of the Adapted. He had no idea what had happened to Lou, hoped to God that he had been out of his house when the Event happened. 

“I didn’t want to let my brothers down. I know I did, and I’m sorry about how it went down. I’m not sorry for trying to make my own music-“ Niall shook his head, because fuck no Zayn shouldn’t feel bad about that. “I wish I could have saved you all.”

“I know,” Niall said, and got a surprised look from Zayn. “Let’s go back.” Zayn had fixed them up a little shelter near a tent city. There’s was more built from bricks and concrete blocks for walls, and a tarp roof. It kept the rain out. 

They walked to their little shelter, hoping that a new squatter hadn’t tried to take it over. Zayn found Niall’s hand, and held it as they walked back. “I’ll get food tomorrow,” Zayn promised. “I can bring a basket and fly to the market.”

“Don’t carry too much,” Niall said, squeezing Zayn’s hand. “I don’t want that stuff weighing you down.” Zayn was a very strong flyer, but accidents could happen. “We have enough to pay them, right?”

“Sure,” Zayn said. “I still have more coins, and a lot of weed.” Niall didn’t think farmers would need it, but there you go. They walked up on their little place, and Zayn unfolded his wings so he could scare the crap out of any squatters. The place was empty though-word might have gotten around about them. 

When they got inside, Niall went to their little collection of sleeping bags and old pillows they had rescued out of abandoned buildings. A lot of places had been destroyed by the Event. Niall wasn’t sure why, but earthquakes were part of it, as well as mutations and the collapse of technology. Niall just started pulling off most of his clothes. He needed a rest. 

Niall had already snuggled down into their makeshift bed when he saw Zayn staring at him. “Join me for a nap?” He said. Zayn pulled his pants off, and took off the long scarf he wore instead of a shirt. Zayn crawled over the sleeping bags until he was spooned behind Niall, and kissed him on the back of the neck.

“That tickles,” Niall said, and Zayn smacked his thigh in response. “Ow, now you’re beatin’ me.” Zayn giggled, and Niall turned over to see him. “Hi.” Zayn’s eyes crinkled in a smile, and that was something that had never changed.

“Hey,” he said back, voice low and gentle, as he cupped Niall’s face. The kiss was warm and sweet, and Niall snuggled in further. Since Zayn found him, they had been each other’s only family, only love. And that was okay, as much as Niall missed everyone else. 

Zayn kissed him for a while before rolling over on top of him, their bodies flush against each other. Zayn nibbled at his neck while rocking gently against Niall. Niall moaned, feeling Zayn’s strong thigh against hic cock. Niall opened his eyes, wanting to see.

Zayn’s wings were completely unfolded, blocking the light that came in through the edges of the tarp. They were charcoal gray, with some white in the under-feathers, and they were beautiful. He couldn’t control them when they were like this, sharing love. Zayn’s eyes were closed, as if he was concentrating, and Niall reached up to touch his face. “You’re beautiful.”

“Shhh,” Zayn said. He had been self-deprecating about his looks since he Adapted, even though it put him on top of the new food chain. “Just let me…” Zayn moved against him, bringing Niall closer and closer. 

Niall watched Zayn, how his brow furrowed, how his wings dipped slightly and then back up, until he was coming between them. Zayn kissed him, and Niall moaned in his mouth. “Come on babe,” Niall said when Zayn pulled back, and Zayn pulled back to get his hand around his cock. “Let me.”

“No, want to come on you.” Niall rolled his eyes. Zayn could be a bit possessive and territorial. Niall didn’t really mind. It was just funny. 

Niall watched, blissed out and tired, as Zayn wanked off over his chest. After a few minutes, Zayn groaned, and came over Niall’s chest and stomach. Niall made a face and Zayn laughed. “Sorry.”

“I don’t mind, I just like seeing ya laugh.” It wasn’t easy to find things to laugh about in their new world. Zayn got a mostly-clean rag and cleaned them up, then lay on his stomach to rest. 

Niall watched as it got darker outside. He could see flickers of light from fires, and the smell of grilling meat. Someone must have caught something good. Niall’s stomach growled again, but Zayn said he could get food tomorrow. He was beginning to think that Zayn needed less food now, and therefore forgot that Niall was used to eating at least three times a day. 

Niall tried not to dwell on it, and drifted in and out of sleep. Zayn breathed in his ear, soft, and it helped to ground Niall even when he would wake up, thinking he heard a noise. He had no security systems anymore, to keep thieves and such out. Just a couple of cricket bats and Zayn. 

Niall calmed himself, counted to ten, and curled closer to Zayn. Zayn sighed in his sleep, a happy sound, and Niall smiled in the dark. The next morning, they would find a little something for breakfast, then Zayn would go to the market on the edge of town. Niall would scavenge around the rubble for stuff they could use or sell. Maybe later tomorrow, they would sing. Maybe one day Niall hoped he could find an intact guitar. 

Maybe. Maybe maybe. Niall closed his eyes.


End file.
